For two-thirds of the game, the Oilers were dominant. Entering the third period they owned a 2-0 lead and a healthy edge in scoring chances and shots. Then they collapsed into a defensive shell and bad things started happening.

The Detroit Red Wings got some help in the form of power plays, but they also got calls because they were dominating the play 5-on-5 in the third period. Individual errors – a Justin Schultz giveaway 5-on-5, and a Jeff Petry own-goal on the penalty kill (after a Mike Brown high-stick) – cost them their lead and sent the game to overtime. In the extra period, Pavel Datsyuk embarrassed Jeff Petry one-on-one and put the game away.

Player Grades

The following are the player grades for the Oilers, with 10 being a “perfect” game, 9 extraordinary, 8 great, 7 good, 6 above average, 5 average, 4 below average, 3 poor, 2 terrible and 1 deserving of almost instant demotion. Compiled by Jonathan Willis.

#2 Jeff Petry, 3. Petry played tough minutes and generally played them well… until the last 10 minutes of the game. Despite playing more than 15 minutes of his 5-on-5 time against one of Datsyuk or Zetterberg, he was doing well. Then he scored an own goal on the penalty kill to tie the game at two with just over five minutes left, and got beat by Pavel Datsyuk on the overtime winner.

#4 Taylor Hall, 8. Scored the game’s opening goal, picking a gap in the middle of the ice and then sneaking between the defence for a shot from a dangerous area. Picked up a strong second assist on the Oilers’ second goal, winning a puck battle behind the Detroit net before relinquishing possession to Yakupov. Finished the night with six shots and was easily the best player on the ice for the Oilers.

#5 Ladislav Smid, 6. Swapped penalties in the first, taking a hooking penalty against Pavel Datsyuk and then drawing a boarding minor from Dan Cleary. Three hits, six blocked shots, and like Petry lots of time against Datsyuk and Zetterberg.

#6 Ryan Whitney, 3. Finished a team-worst minus-2 and while the primary errors generally fell on the other defencemen (Justin Schultz and Jeff Petry, respectively) he just wasn’t all that good.

#10 Shawn Horcoff, 6. Contributed to the Oilers first goal not just by making the primary assist to Hall but also by winning a battle in the corner in his own end, negating Detroit’s attempted dump-in and quickly getting the puck moving in the other direction. Took a penalty for a faceoff violation in the third and had a rough night in the circle overall, winning just eight of 23 draws.

#13 Mike Brown, 3. Enjoyed a physical first period, hammering Cory Emmerton and then Joakim Andersson on successive shifts. He almost got his line in trouble on one occasion, by failing to control a hard pass and icing the puck, but the fourth line was quickly able to get the puck out of the zone against Detroit’s top line after the faceoff and make a change, negating an unfavourable matchup. Took the high-sticking penalty in the third period that gave the Red Wings their power play which led to the tying goal. Had a solid fight with Jordin Tootoo.

#14 Jordan Eberle, 4. Jordan Eberle played just under 12 minutes of 5-on-5 ice-time, with two thirds of it coming against Detroit’s depth lines. Despite the cushy minutes, the closest he came to generating offence was a puck in the face of Detroit defenceman Kyle Quincey.

#15 Nick Schultz, 5. Enjoyed a solid, low-event game.

#19 Justin Schultz, 4. Biggest play of the night arguably was losing a battle for the puck in his own end – a puck that subsequently ended up in the back of the Oilers’ net for Detroit’s first goal.

#37 Lennart Petrell, 4. Drew an interference penalty midway through the first period; played his usual solid game defensively while doing absolutely nothing offensively.

#40 Devan Dubnyk, 4. Twenty-five saves on 28 shots; wasn’t able to hold the line when the rest of the team collapsed in the third period.

#44 Corey Potter, 4. Beat one-on-one for Detroit’s best first period chance, and later fumbled the puck while the Oilers were trying to enter Detroit’s zone on a delayed penalty. Seemed to fight the puck for much of the game.

#56 Teemu Hartikainen, 4. Took a boarding penalty early in the third period. He had one shot (a good scoring chance on the rebound after an initial shot by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) and some effective moments with the puck along the boards but ultimately didn’t help the Oilers’ third line generate much offensively. Benched for much of the third.

#64 Nail Yakupov, 6. Made a great play for the primary assist on Sam Gagner’s goal, helping Taylor Hall by taking the puck off him and circling around into a scoring position, from where he took a hard shot (Gagner potted the rebound). Inexplicably benched until the Oilers had blown their third period lead.

#83 Ales Hemsky,7. Picked up a second assist with a solid breakout pass on the Oilers’ first goal, and had three shots himself – most notably a creative scoring chance where he played the puck to himself off the boards, beating Niklas Kronwall for a point-blank scoring chance.

#89 Sam Gagner, 6. Picked up the Oilers’ second goal, knocking home a Nail Yakupov rebound. The best of the Oilers’ regular faceoff men on the night, going 9-for-14 in the circle.

#91 Magnus Paajarvi, 6. Had one great moment in the second period where he cut hard to the net, blowing by defenceman Brian Lashoff and getting a scoring chance from in close. Finished with four shots and another that was blocked on a line with Gagner and Yakupov that did some surprisingly effective work against quality opposition.

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 6. Once again the best player on his line. His best play was probably a second period rush to the net that ended up generating two scoring chances and a power play, though a third period block on what was nearly a certain goal as an Oilers’ penalty kill ended was also big.

#94 Ryan Smyth, 6. Took four shots, including the fourth line’s lone scoring chance, and did solid work on the Oilers’ penalty kill (until Petry’s own-goal). Also got some time late in the game with Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins.

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